DO NOT DISTURB? ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE RIGHTS OF THE DEAD
- 1 July 1984
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Oxford Journal of Archaeology
- Vol. 3 (2) , 127-139
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.1984.tb00322.x
Abstract
Summary. The legality of the archaeological investigation of ancient burials is currently receiving much attention in many parts of the world, and some areas it has become a politically sensitive issue; but the ethics involved in any archaeological disturbance of the dead rarely attract much discussion. This paper attempts to open the debate as to whether science can justifiably override the wishes of the dead; but it finds that there are no simple conclusions to be drawn. The advice of clergy or of moral philosophers will be needed in order to find some answers. “If I should die, think only this of me that I am an extended inhumation with grave‐goods of phase B”. (Anon.; traditional archaeological joke). “Good frend for Iesus sake forbeare To digg the dust enclosed here Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones And curst be he yt moves my bones”. (Inscription on Shakespeare's tomb, Stratford‐upon‐Avon).This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
- AUSTRALIAN ACADEMIC ARCHAEOLOGY: Aboriginal transformation of its aims and practicesAustralian Archaeology, 1983
- The Excavation of American Indian Burial Sites: A Problem in Law and Professional ResponsibilityAmerican Anthropologist, 1980
- Ethics in archaeology, 1971Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1971
- Aspects of PrehistoryPublished by University of California Press ,1970
- Ethnography and archaeological interpretation of funerary remainsWorld Archaeology, 1969
- Violation of Sepulture in Palestine at the Beginning of the Christian Era.Journal of Roman Studies, 1932